Veneer slicer machine

ABSTRACT

A veneer slicer machine and method for slicing thin veneer strips from dry wood including a support body, a bench unit carried by the body and selectively movable vertically along the body for supporting the wood to be sliced, a drive unit for selectively moving the wood across the bench unit along a prescribed path, and a vibrator slicer assembly carried by the bench unit for slicing the veneer strips from the wood as it is moved across the bench unit by the drive unit. The slicer assembly includes a U-shaped yoke pivoted on the bench unit with a thin cutting blade carried between the projecting ends of the legs of the yoke under tension and positioned to engage the wood as it is moved across the bench unit. A vibrator drive is connected to the yoke for rapidly pivoting it back and forth to cause the cutting blade to slice the veneer strip from the wood. The method of the invention includes moving a piece of wood along a prescribed path, engaging the wood with a cutting blade, and rapidly moving the cutting blade generally lengthwise to slice a veneer strip from the wood.

United States Patent I 1.

Komaki [451 Mar. 12, 1974 1 VENEER SLICER MACHINE [76] Inventor: SaijiKomaki, 1 Naga Yoshi-cho,

Kagoshima 890, Japan [22] Filed: Apr. 12, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 243,368

Primary Examiner-Donald R. Schran [5.7] ABSTRACT A veneer slicer machineand method for slicing thin veneer strips from dry wood including asupport body, a bench unit carried by the body and selectively movablevertically along the body for supporting the wood to be sliced, a driveunit for selectively moving the wood across the bench unit along aprescribed path, and a vibrator slicer assembly carried by the benchunit for slicing the veneer strips from the wood as it is moved acrossthe bench unit by the drive unit. The slicer assembly includes aU-shaped yoke pivoted on the bench unit with a thin cutting bladecarried between the projecting ends of the legs of the yoke undertension and positioned to engage the wood as it is moved across thebench unit. A vibrator drive is connected to the yoke for rapidlypivoting it back and forth to cause the cutting blade to slice theveneer strip from the wood.

The method of the invention includes moving a piece of wood along aprescribed path, engaging the wood with a cutting blade, and rapidlymoving the cutting blade generally lengthwise to slice a veneer stripfrom the wood.

7 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTEU MAR 12 874 sum 1 0F 3 PAIENTEDIARIZI974 3796243 SHEET 2 (If 3 PATENTEDIAR 12 m4 SHEET 3 BF 3 .54 lLll/l/IAnQAQAQA/ VENEER SLICER MACHIN BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Becausecertain varieties of timber as well as those of good quality have becomedifficult to obtain, they have become precious. This has led to theslicing of this precious timber into thin sheets or veneer so that thethusly formed veneer can be glued to a base material to form pillars orpanels which appear to be made of the precious timer yet are economicalto produce.

Conventionally, the raw precious timber is soaked in water to soften thewood fibers and is then fed to a conventional slicing machine whichslices off a continuous sheet of material from the periphery of thetimber as the timber is rotated about its longitudinal axis. The timbermust be soaked to prevent the sliced sheet from cracking or splitting.Because the conventional slicing machine is unable to slice a finishedsheet of material from the timber, the sliced sheet is thicker than thefinished veneer made therefrom is to be. The thusly sliced sheet is thendried and subsequently finished to form the thin veneer by a subsequentfinishing operation such as sanding.

As is readily apparent, this wastes a significant portion of theprecious timber as the sheet is finished into a veneer. Moreover, thesoaking and drying operations are time consuming and the subsequentlyrequired finishing operation increases the production cost appreciably.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION These and other problems and disadvantagesassociated with the prior art are overcome by the invention disclosedherein by providing a slicing method and apparatus which are capable ofslicing thin sheets of material from precious timber without soaking thetimber. Moreover, because the sliced sheets are inherently finished onone side thereof as an incident of the slicing operation, additionalsubsequent finishing steps are not required.

The apparatus of the invention includes generally a support table, drivemeans for moving the precious timber along the support table, a slicerprotruding above the plane of the support table and engagable with thetimber thereon and vibrator means for rapidly reciprocating the bladegenerally lengthwise to slice veneer from the timber as it is drivenacross the support table.

The method of the invention includes passing a piece of timber along aprescribed path, positioning a slicer blade to engage the timber as itmoves along the path and rapidly vibrating the blade generallylengthwise to slice veneer form the timber as it moves along the path.

These and other features and advantages of the invention will becomemore apparent upon consideration of the following specification andaccompanying drawings wherein like characters of reference designatecorresponding parts throughout the several views and in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of amachine embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a front view of the machine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top view of the blade mounting mechanism of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 4-4 in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 55 in FIG. 4; and,

FIG. 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line 66 in FIG.3.

These figures and the following detailed description disclose specificembodiments of the invention, however, it is to be understood that theinventive concept is not limited thereto since it may be embodied inother forms.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIGS. 1and 2, the slicer machine 10 includes generally a support body 11, abench unit 12 selectively movable vertically along body 1 1 forsupporting thetimber T to be sliced, a drive unit 14 mounted on top ofbody 1 1 for driving the timber T across bench unit 12 along aprescribed path P, and a vibrator slicer assembly 15 carried by benchunit 12 for slicing veneer strips from the timber T as it is movedacross the bench unit 12.

The support body 11 has a base 16 and an upstanding stanchion 18extending upwardly from base 16. The forwardly facing edges of stanchion18 are provided with a pair of vertically extending parallel guide rails19 which slidably support the bench unit 12.

The bench unit 12 includes a U-shaped undercarriage 20 provided withvertically extending guideways 21 on the back side thereof whichslidably engage the guide rails 19 to movably support the bench unit 12therefrom. -A conventional height adjustment mechanism 22 extendingbetween base 16 and the bottom of undercarriage 20 selectively positionsthe undercarriage 20 and thus bench unit 12 vertically along the guiderails 19. A handle 24 is provided on the undercarriage 20 and connectedto the mechanism 22 through a conventional angle drive 25 to raise andlower the bench unit 12 as handle 24 is rotated in known manner.

A support bed 26 for supporting the timber T for slic ing is carried onthe top of the forwardly projecting legs of undercarriage 20. The bed 26has an entry section 28 as seen on the right in FIGS. 1 and 2 and anexit section 29 as seen on the left. The sections 28 and 29 are spacedapart to provide an opening 30 to receive the slicer assembly 15. Theentry section 28 defines an upwardly facing support surface 31 lying ina horizontal plane P and the exit section 29 defines an upwardly facingsupport surface 32 lying in a horizontal plane P The surfaces 31 and 32are transversely aligned under path P and plane P is parallel with andspaced above the plane P equal to the thickness of the veneer stripwhich is removed from timber T as will become apparent.

The entry section 28 is slidably mounted on an incline 23 provided onthe leg of the undercarriage 20 with a height adjustment mechanism 27 ofknown construction connecting section 28 with undercarriage 20. Theheight adjustment mechanism 27 positions the section 28 along incline 23to raise or lower the surface 31 and vary the thickness of the veneerstrip sliced from the timber as will become apparent.

The slicer assembly 15 as best seen in FIGS. 3-6 includes a bladesupport unit 40 which is pivotally mounted on top on one of the legs ofundercarriage 20 in the opening 30. and a vibrator drive 41 mounted on42 pivots about an axis A, perpendicular to path P and generallyvertically aligned therewith. Legs 46 of yoke 42 are integral withopposite ends of central web 45 and extends therefrom toward the entryend of the machine on opposite sides of the entry section 28 so that theupper surface of yoke 42 isgenerally parallel to plane P The near leg 46of yoke 42 as seen in FIGS. 1 and 2 is provided with an integralextension 48 on the projecting end thereof for connection to thevibrator drive 41 as will be explained.

A blade assembly 50 is carried in upwardly openin cutouts 49 in legs 46adjacent their projecting ends. Assembly 50 includes a thin slicingblade 51 extending between legs 46, a pair of blade clamping blocks 52and 54 engaging the blade 51 ateach end thereof which fit within cutouts49, a pair of locking plates 55 associated with each pair of clampingblocks 52 and 54, and a pair of tensioning plates 56 positioned on theoutside of legs 46 to tension blade 51.

The bottom clamping blocks 52 are slidably received in cutouts 49 andsupport blade 51 on their upper surfaces so that the cutting edge 59 isparallel to the plane P The top clamping blocks 54 are secured to thebottom blocks 52 by bolts 62 to clamp the blade 51 between the lowersurfaces of blocks 52 and the upper surfaces of blocks 54 as the bolts62 are tightened. It will be noted from FIG. 6 that the bottom blocks 54are wider than blocks 56 to provide projecting shoulders 64 on oppositesides of blade 51 at opposite ends thereof.

The locking plates 55 are connected to the legs 46 of yoke 42 forwardlyand rearwardly of blade 51 by bolts 65 so that plates 55 engageshoulders 64 of blocks 52 and abut the forwardly and rearwardlyextending ends of top blocks 54 to positively locate blade 51. Thetensioning plates 56 are larger than the cutouts 49 and define a pair ofapertures 66 which slidably receive the threaded tensioning studs 61therethrough. Nuts 68 are screwed on studs 61 to cause the plates 56 tobear on the outside of legs 46 and apply a tension to the blade 51.Thus, the blade 51 will be tightly held between legs 49 and fixed withrespect to yoke 42 so that it is movable along an arcuate path P as theyoke 42 is pivoted as will become more apparent.

The vibrator drive 41 includes a drive motor 70 having its drive shaftconnected to a stub shaft 71 through a conventional belt and pulleyarrangement 72. The

motor 70 is mounted on a base plate 74 and the shaft 71 is rotatablyjournalled in a bearing 75 also mounted on base plate 74. The base plate74 is secured to the leg of undercarriage independently of yoke 42 andentry section 28. The upper end of shaft 71 is provided with aneccentric cam 76 rotatable therewith. A link 78 is pinned to cam 76 andthe projecting end of extension 48 so that as motor 70 rotates the shaft71, the yoke 42 will be pivoted back and forth to move blade 51 alongpath P, with the cutting edge 59 moving in a plane parallel to plane Pto slice a veneer strip from the timber T.

The drive unit 14 is carried by the upper end of stanchion l8 andprojects forwardly thereof to overlie the bed 26 as seen in FIG. 2. Thedrive unit 14 includes an endless drive belt 80 movably mounted aroundsupport rolls 81 so that its lower flight is vertically aligned with bed26 and is parallel toplane P A motor (not shown) moves the lower flightof belt 80 from right to left as seen in FIG. 2 to engage the uppersurface of the timber T and drive it across bed 26.

OPERATION handle 24 of the height adjusting mechanism 22 is thenmanipulated until the entry section 28 and timber T thereon is moved upunder drive belt 80. Prior to this, the handle of the cutting thicknessadjustment mechanism 27 has been manipulated to move the entry section28 until the plane of the slicing blade 51 is such that its cutting edge59 lies a prescribed distance (1 above the plane P of the surface 31 asbest seen in FIG. I

6. The thickness of the veneer strip V which will be sliced from thetimber T will be equal to the distance d. The drive motor of thevibrator drive 41 is then started so that the yoke 42 is rapidly pivotedback and forth on shaft 44 and the cutting edge 59 ofblade 51 is movingalong path P. It will be noted that path P imparts a motion to thecutting edge 59 which has a component p parallel to the cutting edge 59and a component toward and away from the cutting edge 59. It will alsobe noted that the component parallel or lengthwise along the cuttingedge 59 is greater than the component perpendicular and toward and awayfrom the cutting edge 59. This gives aslicing action to the cutting edge59 as will become apparent.

Next the motor in the. drive unit 14 is started to drive the timber Ttoward the blade 51 so that the cutting edge 59 engages the leading edgeof the timber T and slices the veneer strip V therefrom. The oscillatingaction of the upper edge of the blade 51 serves to polish and finish thenewly-formed surface S on the timber T as a result of the slicing ofthe'strip V therefrom. The surface on the top of the strip V as seen inthe figures or the newly formed back surface S" of the strip is slightlyrougher than the finished that the surface S had which is now the loweror previously formed surface of strip V. Since it is only necessary tofinish one surface of the veneer strip'"V, it will be seen that thethusly produced strip V is immediately ready for use without fur-' therprocessing. Moreover, it will be seen that the polishing or finishingaction of the upper surface of the blade 51 on the newly created lowersurface of the timber T prepares that surface for the next slicingoperation so that one surface of the veneer is always finished and readyfor use. While the position of the entry section 28 of bed 26 may beadjusted to selectively adjust the thickness of the veneer strip V, ithas been found that an adjustment which produces a veneer strip V of anythickness less than 12mm. or 0.433 inches is satisfactory. The blade isa thin member so that the greater thickness of material may be slicedfrom the timber T without creating a sufficiently great curvature in theexiting strip V to cause it to crack.

The movement of blade 51 performs better the faster the yoke 42 ispivoted. It has been found that reciprocation of blade 51 at a speed ofmore than 3008,000 cycles per minute performs satisfactory with a speedof 7,500 cycles per minute to more than 8,000 cycles per minutepreferred. Also, it will be seen that the distance through which blade51 is moved is very small such that the movement is more of a vibratorymovement than a normally thought of translating movement.

I claim:

1. A machine for slicing a thin strip of wood from a piece of timberhaving a flat surface including:

support bed means for supporting said piece of timber from said flatsurface;

drive means for selectively moving said piece of timber across saidsupport bed means along a prescribed path;

a cutting blade assembly including a slicing blade supported at itsopposite ends on opposite sides of said flat surface and having acutting edge engagable with said piece of timber on said support bedmeans so that said cutting edge is generally parallel with said flatsurface, and pivoted about an axis normal to said flat surface andintersecting said flat surface, said blade further having a flat sideextending across its width to said cutting edge; and,

vibrator means for rapidly moving said cutting edge back and forth alongan arcuate path about said axis parallel to said flat surface to slice aveneer strip from said timber as said drive means moves said timberacross said support bed means.

2. The machine of claim 1 further including means for selectivelyadjusting the distance between said flat surface of said piece of timberand said cutting edge to selectively vary the thickness of the veneerstrip sliced from said timber.

3. The machine of claim 1 wherein said vibrator means moves said cuttingedge along said arcuate path parallel to said flat surface so that saidcutting edge has one component of movement lengthwise along said cuttingedge and another component of movement toward and away from said cuttingedge.

4. The machine of claim 3 wherein said one component of movementlengthwise of said cutting edge is greater than said another componentof movement toward and away from said cutting edge.

5. The machine of claim 3 wherein said support bed means defines atransverse opening therein; wherein said cutting blade assembly includesa U-shaped yoke pivotally mounted within said opening about said axissaid slicing blade mounted between the projectings ends of the legs ofsaid yoke and defining said cutting edge thereon; and, wherein saidvibrator means in operatively connected to said yoke to pivot said yokeabout said axis and thus move said cutting edge along said arcuate path.

6. The machine of claim 5 further including height adjustment means forselectively adjusting the distance between said drive means and saidsupport bed means.

7. The machine of claim 5 further including tensioning means forselectively maintaining tension within said cutting blade.

1. A machine for slicing a thin strip of wood from a piece of timberhaving a flat surface including: support bed means for supporting saidpiece of timber from said flat surface; drive means for selectivelymoving said piece of timber across said support bed means along aprescribed path; a cutting blade assembly including a slicing bladesupported at its opposite ends on opposIte sides of said flat surfaceand having a cutting edge engagable with said piece of timber on saidsupport bed means so that said cutting edge is generally parallel withsaid flat surface, and pivoted about an axis normal to said flat surfaceand intersecting said flat surface, said blade further having a flatside extending across its width to said cutting edge; and, vibratormeans for rapidly moving said cutting edge back and forth along anarcuate path about said axis parallel to said flat surface to slice aveneer strip from said timber as said drive means moves said timberacross said support bed means.
 2. The machine of claim 1 furtherincluding means for selectively adjusting the distance between said flatsurface of said piece of timber and said cutting edge to selectivelyvary the thickness of the veneer strip sliced from said timber.
 3. Themachine of claim 1 wherein said vibrator means moves said cutting edgealong said arcuate path parallel to said flat surface so that saidcutting edge has one component of movement lengthwise along said cuttingedge and another component of movement toward and away from said cuttingedge.
 4. The machine of claim 3 wherein said one component of movementlengthwise of said cutting edge is greater than said another componentof movement toward and away from said cutting edge.
 5. The machine ofclaim 3 wherein said support bed means defines a transverse openingtherein; wherein said cutting blade assembly includes a U-shaped yokepivotally mounted within said opening about said axis said slicing blademounted between the projectings ends of the legs of said yoke anddefining said cutting edge thereon; and, wherein said vibrator means inoperatively connected to said yoke to pivot said yoke about said axisand thus move said cutting edge along said arcuate path.
 6. The machineof claim 5 further including height adjustment means for selectivelyadjusting the distance between said drive means and said support bedmeans.
 7. The machine of claim 5 further including tensioning means forselectively maintaining tension within said cutting blade.